1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coin selecting apparatus incorporated in a coin operated machine such as a vending machine, a game machine, or whatever, or namely, an apparatus for selecting such as the size and material of an inserted coin by mechanical or electromagnetic means and, more particularly, to a control mechanism for controlling inserting speed of the coin inserted in such a coin selecting apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Coin selecting apparatuses mechanically or electromagnetically selecting inserted coins, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,376,480 and 4,570,779, have been known as conventional ones. Those apparatuses detect coins in a following manner. That is, where a coin passage extends from the top to the bottom of an apparatus, a coin inserted from a slot provided at the top of the passage travels along the coin passage and reaches an outlet located at the bottom end of the passage. While the inserted coin is traveling along the passage, mechanical or electromagnetic means such as composed of a cradle, a magnet, an electromagnet, or the like which is arranged on a side of the coin passage detects the size, material, and the like of the inserted coin.
Such a coin selecting apparatus is capable of properly selecting as to whether the inserted coin is acceptable or unacceptable. However, assembly circumstances of which the coin selecting apparatus is built-in may vary depending on structures or designs of the coin operative machines, and the coin selecting apparatus can be incorporated in a manner that nobody can currently anticipate. This would bring irregular or uneven speeds of inserted coins. For example, where an electronic coin selecting apparatus is incorporated in a vending machine, a longer distance between a coin slot of the vending machine and a slot of the coin selecting apparatus accelerates the inserted coin, thereby making the coin pass through the selecting apparatus at a faster speed than in the case of a shorter distance. As a result, the electronic sensing device may improperly work, so that a coin to be accepted could be rejected or that an unacceptable coin could be accepted. The same thing may occur to mechanical and other coin selecting apparatuses.
As for adjusting inserting speed of an inserted coin, there have been proposed various fall adjusting means. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,213 discloses such a mechanism. This mechanism includes a pendulum damper, as an aid for speed control, pivotally movable around a shaft. However, this pendulum damper raises a problem. Inserted coins always impact on the same point of the pendulum damper. Where many coins are successively inserted for a long period of time, the damper would be worn or become dirty or impaired at the impact point. When the contact portion between the pendulum damper and the shaft is worn or impaired, the pendulum damper cannot smoothly swing. Those problems prevent the pendulum damper from working effectively, thereby impairing selection ability of the coin selecting apparatus.